The chances of Polish Jewry winning a representation in the forthcoming elections to the fourth Polish parliament proportionate to its numbers are decidedly unfavorable, according to the opinions of various Jewish leaders here. The elections for the Sejm, or lower house, will be held November 16 while the elections to the Senate will take place on November 23.
In the first Sejm, which lasted from 1919 to 1922, the Jewish Parliamentary Club had 11 members; in the second Sejm, lasting from 1922 to 1927, the Club had 46 members, in addition to one member of the Jewish Folkist Party, while in the third Sejm, which was recently dissolved, the Jewish Parliamentary Club had 19 members.
The great increase in the membership of the Club during the second Sejm is traceable to the election union of the Jews with the White Russian, Ukrainian and German minorities, together with the fact that Ukrainians of Eastern Galicia boycotted the elections, giving the Jews of that section an opportunity to elect a large number of candidates. The Jews lost this advantage in the elections for the third Sejm when the Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia again participated in the elections.
The failure of the minorities bloc in the elections for the third Sejm was also in large measure due to the weakening of the Slavic minorities because their own radical elements deserted the minorities bloc, and because of the government’s persecution of the minorities bloc itself. After the Polish Supreme Court had declared the elections in some districts null and void, the minorities ticket gained three seats in the supplementary elections. At the third Sejm elections the Agudath Israel, Orthodox Organization, joined the pro-government forces while the Jews of Eastern Galicia also declined to support the minorities bloc.
The formation of a minorities bloc in the coming elections is improbable because of changed political conditions. The White Russian bourgeois parties have lost their influence with the masses of White Russians and the Left parties among them are unwilling to join forces with the anti-Socialistic White Russians. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, whose chief strength is in Eastern Galicia, will probably conduct an independent campaign there.
That the Jews will unite with the Ukrainians is also unlikely since the latter, of recent years, have been carrying on an economic fight against the Jewish population of Eastern Galicia and have ruined the Jewish shopkeepers by organizing their own cooperatives. It is extremely improbable, too, that the Jews will join forces with the German minority in the Lodz district, particularly since the Germans are asking a change in the present boundaries of Poland and Germany. Nevertheless the idea of the minorities banding together for the parliamentary elections has not been entirely given up, although its realization is rather doubtful.
In the meantime the question of the Jews themselves uniting for the elections is making progress. The proposal for the formation of a united Zionist bloc of the territorial Zionist organizations as well as of the Zionist fractions within these organizations is making progress. The Hitachduth of Poland proper as well as of East and West Galicia have now agreed to concerted action in the forthcoming elections, although the East Galician Zionists had hesitated for sometime. Negotiations for a union of the Zionist fractions to include the Mizrachi, the Orthodox Zionist party and the general Zionists are still continuing.
The Agudath Israel, Orthodox Organization, has officially declared itself in favor of a united Jewish bloc on condition that no Jewish party, particularly the Zionists, exercise a hegomony in such a bloc. As a matter of fact, however the attitude of the Agudath has not yet crystallized, being dependent upon a number of factors. The same is true of the Jewish economic organizations, of the associations of Jewish merchants, manual workers, petty tradesmen, etc.
In the meantime, the leaders of the pro-government forces are negotiating with the leaders of the Jewish parties for a united ticket. As a condition for their joining the government forces, the Zionists demand the fulfillment of the principal Jewish demands which include mitigation of the enforced Sunday closing law, the abolition of the Czaristic restrictions against the Jews, Jewish equality before the law and a government subsidy for at least one Hebrew high school. Thus far the government has not accepted these demands.
The government leaders, on the other hand, are asking that the Jews nominate Jewish candidates only in those districts where Jewish candidates are certain of election. They also demand that the Jews create among themselves a united bloc which should include the Agudah together with the pro-government bloc of former Deputy Kirschbraun and Wislicki. If these conditions
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
